In Plain Sight
by eostby
Summary: Not everyone can afford to stay out of the spotlight forever. For the Quotable Questions Challenge, with prompt "Are you there, [God]? It's me, [Margaret]."


_**A/N: As soon as I got this quote, I knew who I would be using for this story, I just didn't know how I would use them. There's certainly more to this alternate universe, maybe even this story in particular, but I feel like I hit a good stopping point, and that's good enough for now. As always, I don't own the Potterverse.**_

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No one had ever told her that life would be easy. Far from it, in fact; she often heard stories that suggested her future would probably be less than satisfying at the best, and approaching horrific at the worst. Such was the fate of one not of the most pure and noble blood (what tripe that was) who found themselves sorted into Slytherin, or so the rumors said. Of course, there was one thing that would always be more important than blood, and that was being powerful enough to cause others to shed it if they bother you too much. For that reason, she was left alone.

The mutterings, speculations, and plotting of the others did not bother her. The rumor that she had some creature blood in her? Categorically false, though she never confirmed or denied it. The questioning of how she got to be as large and strong as she was? Idiot purebloods wouldn't know the signs of a good workout, having never considered hard labor to be something anyone above servant class did. The belief that she was anything less than pureblood herself? Entirely unquestioned, in spite of the creature rumor, which brought a smile to her half-blooded self every time she thought about it.

While the halfwits who occupied her house pranced around the castle like they owned it, she stayed in the background, always observing, rarely speaking. It was in this way that she learned that not everything in Gryffindor was as gold as they said, that not every Ravenclaw was smart enough to think their way out of a paper bag, and that Hufflepuff had a much stronger claim to "House of the Cunning" than the current crop of Slytherin could even fathom possible. Most of her housemates never learned these truths, and she was disinclined to enlighten them.

Oh, there were some unforeseen problems along the way, naturally. The ongoing petrification threat that only at the end of the year was discovered to have been a Basilisk; a year when madmen and murderers abounded, but none were whom you would have expected; that blasted "international cooperation" fiasco where the only useful thing that resulted was becoming friendly with a Bulgarian boy who had good connections back in his homeland; and one could hardly forget the past year, where a Ministry toady had attempted to disrupt the entire workings of the castle just to hide the fact that Harry Potter wasn't as crazy as everyone said he was (which anyone with eyes and a brain could have figured out, but precious few in the castle seemed to posses both at the same time).

And so, on her sixth annual train ride up to Scotland for another year at Hogwarts Castle, she paused in her reflections of the past years, made sure that no one was likely to try and enter her train compartment any time soon, and closed her eyes, wishing for some much-needed guidance. Her family was being pressured to declare a side, what with the Dark Lord's rebirth having been confirmed in public, but Millicent had no interest in following a crazy man with delusions of grandeur.

She had actually found herself getting closer with Hermione Granger of all people, thanks to their common interest in the library. Their second year issues from the lone meeting of the dueling club were slowly worked out over many study sessions, and it was actually Hermione who had suggested that Millicent volunteer for the Inquisitorial Squad. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to stop the Squad's raid of the DA meeting, but had been vital in keeping the group hidden until then, and made sure Ginny, Neville, Ron and Luna had an efficient escape before their flight to London.

Now, however, there didn't seem to be time for secret manipulations. Though the Prophet was getting better about their reporting, the Death Eaters and their Dark Lord were making themselves known, and neutrality was as good as hostility to most of them. Which meant that it was time for Millicent to do something she never would have thought would be necessary as an eleven year old girl going off to Hogwarts for the first time.

She looked around the compartment one last time, gathered her things, and took a deep breath as she prepared to face her future.

"Are you there, Hermione? It's me, Millie. It's time. May I come in?"

The door opened.


End file.
